Claims on Al-Qaeda Presence in Iran 'Unfounded and Undocumented'

Government spokesman on Wednesday rejected U.S. claims that Al-Qaeda was using Iran’s soil as a base, calling them “unfounded and undocumented.” “We have said so many times, and even the U.S. knows, that we are massively combating all sorts of Al-Qaeda presence in our country,” government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said in his weekly press conference. “We were already fighting Al-Qaeda and Taleban elements at the time when the U.S. supported them, and we have intensified fighting them even after the Taleban’s fall,” he added. Ramezanzadeh also urged all “Iranian citizens and foreign intelligence organizations to submit information on any element suspected of having links to Al-Qaeda,” so Iran can “expel them.” He quoted Intelligence Minister Ali Younessi as telling the cabinet that during last Iranian year, ending March 2003, “Iran expelled some 500 people suspected of having any link with Al-Qaeda, resulting in human casualties and material damage.” Full Story

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